Hey hey Powerstrokers....yeah, I'm a newbie to Fords and P-Strokes. I've been a Chevy guy for 25+ years, and D-Max guy since 2002. Owned 3 and loved them all. My problem is......the current situation with GM and their new found love affair with the Chinese. I heard (NOT read...HEARD) a speech with GM's CEO telling the Chi-coms they would be building new Plants as well as State-of-the-art Technology R&D center OVERSEAS......"presumably" with our bailout tax dollars. And we have 20 million AMERICANS out of work.....WTF is THAT all about GM?????????

I've had enough and am looking the Blue Oval. I've heard good things and bad, just like Cummins and D-Max, so let's not get wound up too tight. I have gathered from this site that the early 6.0's, ie 02-04 are trouble, and the 6.4's suck diesel like a sponge. I tow a 30' travel trailer a few weeks a year for hunting and family vacation trips. Other than that, it sits parked in my shop most of the time. That's why my 2008 D-Max has 32,000 miles on it. I obviously don't drive it a lot, I'm not a hot-rodder (have a '73 Rally Challenger for that), and don't pull crazy heavy loads when I do need to grunt. I WILL keep a diesel of some flavor until I'm too old to aim a rifle!!!!

So.....my issue is...give me solid pro and cons for a 2005-2007 Crew Cab Powerstroke with around 75-90K miles. I'm eyeing a couple and they are keeping my attention. Just don't want to regret my decision to dump a D-max I love because of socio-political issues, for a truck that I should have avoided in the first place. I don't want a "new truck" payment, so I'm avoiding the entire 6.7 discussion.

Well I can tell you I have 2 2004 6.0's and love them. No problems with them, 1 is modded with all the popular mods and the other is stock. Both are ran hard and well maintained... They have never had problems other than a bad egr cooler and t-stat, and FICM. Both have over 160,000 miles.. Main thing with these motors is MAINTENANCE. They are like women needing lots of attention. I change my oil and ford fuel filters every 3k miles(I know that is overkill but when you understand what that engine is doing to the oil to make it function you would tend to believe its a good insurance policy). On top of this, keep up on coolant, i use the ford gold that gets changed out once a year, and delete the egr cooler PERIOD. Other than that- this is the model i have followed by and my trucks give me great operation. 03-07 6.0s one year is not more reliable than the other by the way. Just take care of them and fix problems when they come up just like any other mechanical device. Of course over time you will have your typical wheel bearing etc etc go out but look: If i were to buy another 6.0 which i will soon i will look into the 100,000 mile trucks as chances are they have had there problems resolved to get that far etc. Stay away or should i say use caution when buying a low low mileage 6.0- chances are they got problems and there is a reason why they have low mileage, these motors run best when they are ran everyday and HARD. My uncle has a 06 f350 harley truck for sale with only 30k miles want it? Yeah- thing needs new heads, oild cooler, egr, head gaskets, and stc fiiting.. See what i mean? I might ad as my uncle does not take care of the truck and thats why it is dead.. Anyway just gives you an idea of how good these 03-07 trucks can be

You can check my sig for threads of interest to every 6.0L owner, or perspective owner.

For towing, I really like the looks and handling of the '05-'07 duallys (though the SRW's weren't bad - mileage is a bit better.) If you can find a TowBoss (4.30s) and don't mind the mileage, you have a truck that is on par with the '11+ F450 pickups (minus a wide track front end).

I test drove and researched all three trucks back in '06, went with the Ford based on its frame, body, interior options, and transmission. Even with the less than stellar 6.0L reputation, I wouldn't trade it for a newer truck due to the emissions equipment.

Thanks guys. I'm looking into an '05 with 78K miles, and an 06 with 89K miles. Both are crews, 4x4, Lariats, short boxes, ect. The same equipment, different color, year and mileage. The 05 can be bought in the high teens, the 06 in the mid 20's. The dealer will give me more for my trade with the 05, so I'm leaning hard in that direction IF I pull the trigger. It took me a long time to bite the bullet and pony up the cash when I bought my first diesel (the 02 D-Max). Every diesel since has been brand new, so I get a little antsy with buying ANYTHING used, but I just can't plop 50K for a new truck which I don't think I want anyway. 2 kids heading to college in a few years, so I need to make sure I'm as ready for that as I can be......not sure you're ever really ready unless you're Trump, a Hollywood star, or a politician, and I'm not any of those....just a regular guy who doesn't like pi$$ing away my money.

Any thoughts on those 2 particular trucks? I see what you meant about one with 100K+ miles and getting the bugs worked out. Without knowing for sure on a specific truck, do you think the same logic would apply for high 70's or 80's mileage? I realize we're only talking about @20K miles.......

What kind of ballpark expense are we talking about to change the coolers, add a coolant filter ect.? I know maintenance is what it is......but are these "fixes" to the design going to be big dollar expenses? I've heard several folks comment on deleting the EGR cooler completely, and some saying replace them. For what it's worth, I've never done anything other than add K&N air filters to any of my D-Max's......so i'm real nervous.... Sorry to be a pain, just trying to make sure I don't regret this.

The dealer with the 05 almost sounds like he is trying to talk me OUT of trading....., but telling me what a great truck the 05 it is at the same time. That's a first, I've never had a car dealer try to talk me out of buying from him!!!

Oh, and one other tidbit to add as far as why I'm considering changing brand flavors anyway. Ontop of all the issues with GM as a whole, the local Chevy dealer is refusing to honor some things he put IN WRITING when I bought the truck, claiming the Bailout, change of ownership, ect. has caused them to discontinue that service. He has offered to "help" a little, but it's NOT what I have a contract guaranteeing, which means more money out of my pocket. See why I'm just a "little" bitter? The local Ford house has treated me VERY good with my F-150 Company work truck......btw they have the 06 I'm looking at.

Buy a monitor first, such as scanguage II or an Edge CTS. Then go out and use it to check things out on any truck you're interested in. You'll want to pay close attention to the FICM voltage and the Engine Coolant Temp/Engine Oil Temp deltas. Run the truck when it is fully warmed up at 65 mph, the difference in the ECT vs EOT should not be more than 15*. If it is, you're gonna be replacing the oil cooler very soon. Also, pay close attention to the turbo when testing it. The vanes tend to stick on a truck that sits for a very long time.

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